


Tag, You're It

by LittleMissPixieStix



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Alternate Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Mann vs. Machine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-06 16:49:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6762163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissPixieStix/pseuds/LittleMissPixieStix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Tag, you’re it!”</p><p>Every day Pyro was always “it”, from morning ‘til night, when they restarted their game, and first thing the next day.  Always.</p><p>They were going to get him one of these days, though.  One day, they were going to be able to tap him and proudly say that they had gotten him instead for once.</p><p>But as the sunset appeared and truces were called, Pyro realized that today wasn’t going to be that day.</p><p>That was okay.  They had had fun today.  </p><p>They’d get him tomorrow, they were sure!</p><p>----<br/>Fic with two endings.  Second ending is only one with character death.  First version has no warnings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Also available on Tumblr here:
> 
> No death in this chapter. Alternate version next chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also on tumblr: http://littlemissfemscout.tumblr.com/post/143928225172/tag-youre-it
> 
> I apologize for typos and/or mistakes. This was supposed to be a 1k exercise. It became 10k somehow, plus two endings.
> 
> I'm very tired right now. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the fic! =)

“ _Tag, you’re it!_ ”

That was a battle cry that the RED team had grown accustomed to hearing echoing through their base during the off-hours.  Most of the team thought the game was silly, childish even, and saw no point in participating when there was actual work to be done.  But for the team’s two youngest members, Scout and Pyro, the game was a great way to fill time.

It was hardly a fair game, though.  Scout’s speed and agility gave him an advantage, and he made good use of it.  Without lugging around an axe or a flamethrower, Pyro was fast, but they were too clumsy to even try to attempt to scale the crates that Scout jumped nimbly on, instead chasing him from the ground until he took mercy and hopped down.  

Every day they were always “it”, from morning ‘til night, when they restarted their game, and first thing the next day.  Always.

They were going to get him one of these days, though.  One day, they were going to be able to tap him and proudly say that they had gotten him instead for once.

But as the sunset appeared and truces were called, Pyro realized that today wasn’t going to be that day.

That was okay.  They had had fun today.  

They’d get him tomorrow, they were sure!

 

* * *

 

 

The team met in the mess hall for dinner.  Engineer was putting down a large plate of fried chicken on the table when he froze as he watched the two of them walk in.

“Y’all called it for the day?” He asked, watching the two of them, “The two of you aren’t gonna play again during dinner, are you?”

“Nah, we trucified,” Scout said as Pyro nodded in agreement, “We ain’t gonna be running around the table during dinner again.”

“Good, because last time you two almost flipped the table right over.” Engineer reminded them as he put the plate down , “Not to mention that you dumped the gravy in Spy’s lap and almost made Soldier start a combative food fight in retaliation.”

“Yeah, and Demo had to make him put down the bones from the ribs ‘fore he started slingin’ them around.  It was great,” Scout said with a laugh, his smile falling when he saw how tiredly Engineer was looking at him, “…Are we in trouble again?”

“I think making the two of you scrub the showers sparklin’ clean was punishment enough.  Haven’t seen them that white in a while,” Engineer said, “Just keep y’alls asses in your chairs durin’ dinner alright? Don’t have a problem with your lil’ game, keeps you two busy and outta’ others’ hair, as long as you’re not being disruptive during team times.”

“But you and Heavy don’t have hair.” Scout replied mischievously as he took a seat.  Engineer opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by an amused snort.  Pyro had to cover their mouth as they were caught off-guard by Scout’s reply, but with their mask in their way, their hand didn’t so much good to muffle them.

“If you have time to crack jokes at my expense, then you have time to carry plates to the table.” He said as he headed back to the kitchen, “C’mon you two.”

By the time the others had arrived, Scout and Engineer had carried most of the plates, and Pyro had been tasked with carrying napkins and silverware as well as setting the table.  Instead of the regular rectangular napkins greeting the mercs, each one got some sot of origami, from a swan to a turtle to something most likely interpretivly abstract and slightly crumpled.

Pyro and Scout sat next to each other at the table, across from Engineer so that he could keep an eye on and quash any possible shenanigans before they escalated.  The others kept an eye on them, and it wasn’t until dinner was half-way over before they relaxed.

Everyone relaxed except for Soldier anyway.

“How can you call yourselves soldiers when you’re wasting time here eating?” Soldier asked as he ripped into a drumstick, “Those bots have a plan to destroy us, I can just feel it.  We should be figuring out how to counter it and carry ourselves to victory.  Not eating with our napkins out and pinkies in our lap.”

“Soldier, you say that every night.” Scout said,  “Just last night you were convinced that Sniper was an undercover operative from the Kangaroo kingdom.  Last month you thought that Pyro was relaying battle plans with smoke signals when they went to burn the scrap pile.  Before that you thought that Medic and Heavy were fra-”

“Enough, little man.” Heavy interrupted.

“If you keep going over all of Soldier’s imaginative lunacies, we’re going to be here all night,” Medic agreed quickly.

“Sol, we’ll talk about battle plans later.  After dinner.” Engineer said, “Can’t we just eat in peace for one night without you ranting and raving about something or another?”

With a huff of a grumble, Soldier quieted down and gnawed at his chicken.  Apparently the promise of battle plans was all it took to quiet him down, but only as long as they were followed through.

Next to Scout there was a quiet whimper.  Pyro cringed as they remembered that, two nights ago, how Soldier had been trying to rip their mask off and corner them to make them confess how they were a secret agent or something like that.  It had been loud.  It had been scary.  Scout and Engineer and the others had had to pull them apart.  It had been so, so, so scary.

“Hey, it’s okay.  I’ll protect you,” Scout reassured them quietly, his hand bumping their leg as he offered it to them.  They immediately grabbed his hand in with their glove covered ones, holding on tight to him.

Of course, Scout wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t have the table blocking people’s view of their hands.  He didn’t want to be seen as a wuss or a sap, someone who let their emotions get the better of them and cried when they got a boo-boo.  He had an image to protect.

And that was why if someone wanted to know why the right-handed boy was struggling with his left to eat his peas he was going to make up something.  Probably wouldn’t be the best excuse, but it’d be _something_.

Luckily, no one asked.  Probably because they knew or because they didn’t notice, but either way was fine with Scout as long as he had his tough guy image mentally intact.  

Through dinner and then through the team meeting right after, the two of them held hands.  Scout’s got sweaty, holding tight onto a rubber glove could do that to guy, but not once did he ask to let go.  It wasn’t up to him when it time to stop, that was Pyro’s decision.  And Pyro didn’t decide to stop until the meeting was well over and only three stragglers were talking.

“You know, you two might want to get to bed,” Engineer said as he reentered the room and picked up the last few dishes, “Been running wild all day and we’re going to need you out there tomorrow.  Go to bed.”

“Hey, you ain’t my dad,” Scout said, “So you can’t tell me what to do.”

“At least go lay down somewhere, would ya’?  Pyro’s probably plum tuckered out,” Engineer said as he headed for the door, “Jus’ ‘cause you drink that radioactive slushie doesn’t mean everyone can pull all-nighter’s like you do, Scout.”

Scout glanced over at Pyro, and saw how they were tiredly slouched in their chair, but doing their best to stay awake.

“Alright, alright, we’re going to go relax somewhere, but not ‘cause you said to!” Scout yelled after Engineer’s quietly chuckling form, and then he looked over at Pyro, “You wanna go chill in my crib?’

“Hmm?”

“My room, ya’ numbnut.  You wanna go relax in my room?” Scout asked, “Should be kinda quiet, and we won’t bump into Soldier like we would in the main room.  You wanna do it?”

“Mmm hmmm!” Pyro said with an excited nod, already starting to stand up, dragging the poor boy to his feet.  The promise of a sanctuary, a quiet one where they’d be safe, was too good to ignore.  Despite how tired they were right now - running all day and playing could do that to a Pyro - they were thrilled about going somewhere safe and quiet, where there’d be no yelling or fighting.  Today had been loud enough already.

The two of them headed down to Scout’s room, doing their best to avoid the others.  It wasn’t entirely necessary to do, they weren’t all like Soldier, but when Scout saw how nervous Pyro had become once they heard Medic talking down the hall, he had turned it into a sort of secret agent kinda game.  Pyro was okay with doing just about anything if it was a game.  Sometimes, to Scout, it was a game to see how many things he could turn into a game.

When they stepped inside Scout’s room, Pyro took a moment to marvel at the many posters up on the wall.  He didn’t know who they were, they were just men in baseball uniform and women is not much of anything at all to Pyro, but they could appreciate the bright colors that had gone into the decorations.  They also looked quite flammable, but Scout had told them not to set fire to his things.  A boring request, but it was that they would respect.

“Crayons are in the top drawer, so’s your paper,” Scout said as he grabbed a magazine off of his dresser and flopped onto his bed, “Feel free to use the desk or the floor.”

Pyro knew quite well where their things were kept in here, but they didn’t pull open the drawer to get them.  Instead, they stood in front of the dresser, thinking.

Their hesitance didn’t go unnoticed by Scout, who peered up from his magazine to glance over at them.

“What’s up?” He asked, “Need to go piss or something?”

“Nrrr”

“Something missing from your stuff?”

“Nrrrppp.”

Scout bit his lip in thought, buck teeth pinning down his bottom lip, and he glanced up at the ceiling as if his Tom Jones and Janis Joplin poster he had tacked there could help him out.  Finally, after thirty seconds, he gave up.

“What do you want?” He said as he looked back at his magazine, “Mask off the mouth if you wanna really talk.  Can’t understand you otherwise.  I won’t look.”

“Promise?” Pyro asked, looking away as they slide their mask up just barely, “You won’t look?”

“Not until you’re ready for me to.” Scout replied with a shrug, trying his darnedest to keep his eyes on the magazine and not towards the enigma to his right.  He wanted to look so bad.  But if he ever wanted to see what was under the mask, they he was gonna have to not blow his chance now.

“Can…” Pyro paused, “Can I lay down with you?”

“Uhhh, sure.” Scout said, looking to see which side it’d be easier to scoot towards, “But don’t you wanna go sleep in your bed?

Before he figured out which way to go, Pyro was already plopping down on the closest side to them.  Inside edge of the bed it was for Scout.

“I burned my blanket up,” Pyro said, “It was an accident that time, for real.  It was my favorite.  It was really soft...It was also very flammable.”

It was a shame that didn’t know where it had come from.  It was just left outside their door one day.  They figured that Scout had given it to them, or maybe Engineer, but they didn’t know.  All they knew was that they had really liked it, it was nice to hug, and they had accidentally set it on fire and if there was one thing they were bad at it was putting out fires.  Poor blanket.

“...What’s this about really?” Scout asked, turning to lay on his side and face the wall instead of Pyro, “Worried about tomorrow?”

“Yeah...”

Scout raised his head, about to turn and see if it was actually Pyro in the bed, and not a Spy.  It’d be weird if it was Spy, either team’s.  Pyro was never worried about a fight, though, not as far as he had ever seen.

  
“Why ya’ worried?” He asked.

“I don’t like fighting the bots.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re...too loud.  And metal-y.  It makes pretending hard.” Pyro said, trailing a finger down the slim bicep of Scout’s arm, “I can’t see rainbows.  And I can’t hear the music because of all the clang-clang-clanging they make.  It’s so dark.  Fights are supposed to be fun.  But fighting the robots is scary.  I don’t like it.  Neither does Balloonicorn.”

“Ah, ‘Balloonicorn’ doesn’t?”

“Huh uh.  It’s like fighting a bunch of weird, lifeless dolls,”  Pyro said, “Like that movie we watched last month that made you scream really hi-”

“Hey, enough of that.  I keep telling you it wasn’t a scream.  It was a tactical battle cry.”

“Like Soldier said when he stubbed his toe on the stove?...Oh, what if Soldier’s right?” They asked, laying their mostly covered head down on the pillow next to Scout’s, “Tomorrow sounds like it’s going to be bad.  Like baaaaaad bad.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it.  We’ll trounce those tin cans.” Scout said, “We always do.”

“But what if we don’t?” Pyro asked, “I just want to be able to run and play again with you, Scout.  And fight the BLUs again.  Not those...mean things.”

“We’ll be fine, Pyro.  And we’ll be playing tag again real soon -” Scout said, gasping suddenly when the firebug’s arms wrapped around his unfortunately ticklish middle, “What’s this for?”

“I needed to hug someone.” Pyro said simply, “And Balloonicorn’s busy right now.  So I’m gonna hug you.”

“Are you?” Scout asked teasingly, receiving a strong squeeze in reply.

“What are you gonna do about it?” Pyro asked playfully, picking up on his tone, “I’m stronger than you.”

“I’m faster.”

“Fast can’t help you when I’m already holding on.” Pyro said with a giggle.

“Sure it can.  I can-”

“Hey, Scout.  Scout Scout Scout.  What if…” Pyro paused as they dropped their voice down to a giggly whisper, “What if I tickle you right now?”

“Don’t.” Was all he managed to get out before latex-gloved hands dipped beneath his shirt and started the torturous tickling.

“Pyro, stop.” Scout gasped before a fit of laugh overtook his words.  Pyro laughed, doing their best to pin his wiggly self down to continue.

It was all fun and games, Scout tried to tell himself.  It was just tickling.  Just.  Tickling.  

But memories of being pinned under a stack of his brothers, as the youngest he somehow always ended up on the bottom, and the tickling stopped being just fun and games..  Scout’s laughter soon turned from giggly to panicked as a claustrophobic feeling of being pinned surfaced.

“S-Stop-” He wheezed, trying to push them off.  Unfortunately, their strength ensured that they were going to keep him right where they wanted.  And they wanted to tickle him more.

He couldn’t take it anymore, he couldn’t breath, he was scared.

“Stop!” He yelled as he shoved them off of him and, consequently, off of the bed.  Pyro landed with a thud, and gave a confused whimper as they looked up at Scout, who had curled himself up into a tight ball.  His form heaved as ragged breathing shook his body.

“I fucking told you to stop, Pyro” Scout said with a cough and a shake in his voice, refusing to turn around and look at them, “Stop means stop.”

“But you were laughing?” Pyro said, I thought you were having fun?”

“I was, for like a minute, but then I needed you to stop.  Really really bad. Scout said, “And then you didn't.  So I had to kick you.”

Pyro sat there, looking at Scout's back, not understanding him.  How could tickling be fun but then not be fun?  They didn't get it.

But ever if they didn't get it, they had obviously done something that upset Scout,  and they didn't like upsetting Scout because he was their friend, so they needed to fix that and apologize as best they could.

“Sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you, Scout.”

“I know you didn't. “

The silence that then flowed between them was awkward and uncomfortable. Pyro shifted on the floor, unsure now of what to do or say.

“Do you want me to leave?” They finally asked.

“No.  You don’t gotta do that.” Scout said.  He was embarrassed to be seen like this, and he couldn’t even look at Pyro to try to assert himself as a man, not unless he broke that promise he had made.  He wasn’t supposed to look at Pyro when their mask was up, because they weren’t comfortable with it.  Eventually, they promised, but eventually hadn’t come yet.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

He wasn’t.  But considering how uneasy Pyro was about tomorrow, it probably wasn’t in the team’s, or Scout’s, best interest to upset the firestarter.  If he sent them away now they’d be worried or scared, they wouldn’t sleep well, and they wouldn’t fight well because of it.  It had happened before, and Scout didn’t want it to happen again.

The bed slowly tilted as Pyro gently climbed back up and lay down next to Scout.  They slowly, ever so slowly, draped an arm over him and held him gently.  If what they were doing was wrong, Scout would let them know.  At least they hoped he would.

As long as Pyro wasn’t squeezing tightly, or holding him down or making it hard to breathe, Scout was okay.  Having just an arm loosely holding on to him wasn’t that bad, Scout thought as the two of them slowly started to drift to sleep, it wasn’t that bad at all.  Kinda nice even.

When Scout woke up the next morning looked around, his bed was cold and he was alone.  That wasn’t unusual, Pyro usually left before Scout was awake.  They were shy like that.  Scout didn’t usually dream about bikini models holding on to him and giving his cheek some kisses, and yet he never woke up feeling like he had actually been giving one.  Huh.

He joined the team at breakfast.  There was no talking and a somewhat solemn mood floating around the table, as each men and Pyro tried to mentally prepare for the fight to come.  It wasn’t going to be an easy one.

The quiet started to bother Scout.  It was odd to just hear breathing, chewing and sipping,, sighs and grunts, instead of actual words.  In fact, it was annoying.  Really annoying.

“So youse’ guys ready for today?” Scout asked as he loaded up his plate with scrambled eggs and grits, “We ready to go out and thrash ‘em?”

“Respawn’s been glitching.” Demoman told him, “Engie’s been working on it since two this morning.”

“He’s what?” Scout asked, “What’s going on with it?”

“Don’ know exactly.  System’s been givin’ him fits an’ sputterin’ off.” Demo replied as he polished off a biscuit, “Tried to help him out, but don’ know much about robotics m’self.  Not my area of expertise.”

“Too bad he doesn’t need ya’ ta’ blow something up.” Scout said as he sat down next to Pyro.

“I know more than that, ya’ daft loon,” Demo said angrily, “One crossed wire, one way-”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it before,” Scout said with a wave of his hand, “Can Doc help him any?”

“Where do you think he is right now?” Heavy said, “He is with Engineer.”

“That make you jealous?” Scout asked mischievously.  Before Heavy could retort, though, Soldier marched into the room.

“Are you pansies ready to go out there and fight?” He asked, “Do we need to go over the plan again?  I want all my men ready out there.”

“Soldier, we went over the plan a ton last night,” Scout said, “I don’t think we-”

“I don’t care.  One more time won’t hurt.” Soldier said gruffly, “I want all my men ready out there, and I want them all to come back.”

Pyro waved around, searching for Scout’s hand under the table.  When they located it, they held on tight.  The somber mood had pierced their veil of rainbows and sunshine and it was terrifying to see everything so gray.

Engineer walked into the room, goggles on his head and bags beneath his eyes, wiping at his dirty hands with a dirty rag that wasn’t doing much to help.  Tiredly, he sat down on Pyro’s other side and slouched in the chair.  Medic walked in right after him, somehow looking far more pristine despite the oil and grease trailing on his coat.

“You get it fixed, Dell?” Demo asked, eye looking between the two men.

“It’s a duct tape fix right now,” Engineer said with a yawn, “I’ll have to take the system apart later, ‘cause we don’t have time right now, but at least it’s runnin’ fairly smoothly right now.”

“What do you mean by duct tape fix?” Scout asked, “You mean you actually used duct tape to hold our life-support system together?”

“Technically, it’s electrical tape,” Medic said as he took another seat, taking a moment to make sure his glasses were clean and consequently get grease on the sides on his face.

“Wait, what-”

“At least it’s not a blender,” Dell said with a yawn, “Still can’t believe that dosh garn contraption of yours works, Doc.”

“Electrical tape,” Medic said brightly, as if it was the secret fix of a lifetime.  

In this case, it might be.

“Well, whatever it is, we’ve all got to hope that it holds together through the fight today,” Engineer said with a sigh, “Let’s try to make it a fast one out there.”

Sniper soon entered the room, holding two cups of coffee.  He wordlessly placed one down in front of Engineer and then moved to sit at the table.  Glancing up, he saw Medic look almost hopefully at the other cup, then up at Sniper, before looking away.  With a grumble, the Aussie plopped the of mug down in front of the Medic and left the room to get a cup that was actually going to be for himself.

“ _Danke_ ,” Medic called after him as Engineer simultaneously hollered a “Thanks, Slim.”

“Next cup’s mine,” Sniper called back, instead of a more proper response.

“Hey, Pyro,” Engineer said, a tired smile lighting up his face, “How’d you sleep last night?”

“Mmmmd.”

“That’s good to hear.  You check your tank yet?” Dell asked, watching as they shook their head in response, “We’ll have to do that before the fight, just to make sure you’re ready out there today.”

“It’s not that bad, is it, Engie?” Scout asked as he held hand started to grow slick with his own sweat.

“Hopefully not.” The Texan said.  

That wasn’t the sort of answer Scout wanted to hear from a man of facts and science.  That wasn’t a good, solid no.  He wasn’t sure enough to back up his handiwork with a good, solid no, and that was terrifying.

That was the subtle sort of nuance that Pyro had never been very good at catching, though, so they were cheered up by the Texan’s “reassurances”.

“Your stuff ready too, Scout?” Engineer asked him.

“Yeah, I always get it ready after the last fight so I don’t gotta’ worry about it.” Scout said, “What about you, Tex?  Is your stuff ready to go?”

“Basically.” Engie said with a tired nod, taking a moment to close his eyes and rest them.

“You, uh…” Scout’s eyes flickered over the man, “You gonna be okay for the match?”

“I’ll be fine, Scout, you just worry about yourself,” The Texan said, cracking an eye open to look at the boy, “Now go get ready.  Match starts in a few.”

Scout and Pyro slowly stood up and headed down the hall, lagging behind those that had gotten a head start of them.

“Guess we can’t call a truce this time, huh?” Pyro quietly asked a nervous laugh bubbling up out of them.  Their head was tucked and they were keeping their mask as low as they could while leaving their mouth free.  Apparently Scout wasn’t the only one who talked while nervous, to try to chatter off some of that scared energy.

“Against bots?  Man, I wish,” Scout said with a laugh, “I never thought I’d actually want to be going up against those BLUs.  But at least they understand that when respawn’s on hold, fighting’s on hold.  Next time I see the BLU Scout, might just give him a high-five instead of beating.”

Pyro gave a low, anxious moan.  If they had wanted to add anything else, they lost the chance as soon as them and Scout stepped into the respawn room.

The team present was busy getting ready, and the conversations were lacking as tensions were high.  The hum of respawn may be present, and the noise was carrying through the air vent, but everyone knew that there was strong chance that the tape holding the delicate machinery together might not be enough.

“Hey, you think Engie’s gonna be okay out there today?” Scout asked to nobody in particular, “He looks exhausted.  Last time I saw him this tired, he had stayed up all night to keep an eye on a fevered Pyro.  Can he fight?”

“He can and he will,” Soldier said stoutly, “We cannot afford to be down a man out there today.”

“I’ll stick close to him, ta’ make sure nothing overwhelm’s him,” Demo said, as he loaded up his grenade launcher, “We’ll have each other’s backs.  Scout, Pyro, that means you have each other’s, alright?”

Scout glanced over at Pyro, who had their backs to everyone as the rifled through their locker.  There was a quick turn of their head, away from Demo and Scout, as they tried to hide how they had been listening in.

“We’ll watch out for each other, Demo.  We always do,” Scout said as he walked past Pyro’s back, reaching up to lightly smack, more a tap, on the back of their head, “Hey, Py.   _Tag, you’re it_.”

Before Pyro could respond in any manner, Medic strolled into the room, silencing any shenanigans with his stoic presence.  Engineer and Heavy followed along behind, with the Texan carrying one of his toolboxes and Heavy carrying Sasha.

“Y’all ready?” The Texan asked, opening up his locker with one hand while he used his gunslinger arm to support the box.  He shoved his prepped pistol into his holster, and then whipped his shotgun shut after checking its ammo.

“Taking a thermos of coffee out there with you, sleepyhead?” Demo asked the Texan, trying his hardest to lighten the mood.

“Listen, Tav, just because we don’t all need eight hours of beauty sleep like yourself-”  Engineer started to teased, but he was cut off from a playful pat on the side from Demo.

“I don’t need beauty sleep.  It’s all natural.” He replied

“Suuuure it is,” Scout cut in, bouncing on his toes as he watched the count-down timer drop second by second.

“Hmmm hud haaah hmmd,” Pyro said as they fidgeted, eyes glued to the times, adding, “Nnrrr hsss hmmd hss Mmmt.”

Engineer burst out laughing at Pyro’s mumbles.  He was the only one, though.  No one else understood the firebug.

“You really think that?” He asked.

“Mmm hmm.”

“Stick close by him today, okay?” Engineer said with a tired grin on his face, turning to look at Scout, “You’re working with Pyro, right?”

“Yessir.” Scout replied, unsure of what had been said about him a moment before.

“Good.” Engineer said as the counter hit ten seconds.  He reached an arm out, wrapping it around Pyro’s middle in a quick hug before he adjusted his grip on his toolbox, “You’re going to do great out there, Firefly.”

“Mmm mmp sssho.” was all Pyro said before the gates opened and the team raced.  True to their word, Pyro stuck as close to Scout as they could, ready to offer him cover and support if he needed it.

Scout sped ahead, surveying the field and radioing as much as he could back to the team.  If he did his job well, they’d have another minute or two to prepare accordingly for any glitches or oversights they may have had.

And it looked bad. Worse than Soldier had said.  Worse than the numbers Spy had tried to figure out.  Rows upon rows of bots were descending from the hills in front of them, walking closer like a marching band of shiny death.  It was really bad.

“We’re in trouble,” Scout radioed, “Big trouble.”

“... _How much_?” Engineer asked him, “ _How many you see_?”

Scout looked over at the hundreds of bots slowly heading their way.

“More than ten.” He said confidently as he started to backtrack, “Way more than ten.”

“ _I’d estimate three hundred or so.  Not that worst we’ve had_ ,” Sniper added, “‘ _Course, they’re still coming.  Who knows how many’s behind ‘em?_ ”

Engineer sighed, cursing quietly under his breath.

“ _How much time you estimate we’ve got to setup_ -”

“Probably like a minute or four,” Scout said.

“ _-Slim_.” Engineer finished.

“ _I’d estimate five tops_.” Sniper said, a quiet gloating over Scout in his tone, “ _How’s the building coming, sleeping beauty_?”

“ _Demo ain’t got anything to build, Slim, you know that_ ,” Engineer said with a laugh, adding, “ _Scout, buddy back up with-_ ”

‘“ _Scoutbots are coming fast, they took a side path away from the group and out of sight ‘til now.  Looks like a quick swarm of them’s breaking the gate_ ,” Sniper said quickly, “ _Get back close, rabbit, you don’t wanna get surrounded already_.”

“ _Get back with Pyro now_.” Engineer ordered.

“Already on it,” Scout as he raced back towards the base, back turned to the onslaught of bots, “How much distance I got-?”

A shot rang out and whizzed closer by Scout than he would have liked.  The sound of metal collapsing and falling to the dusty ground was also closer than he would have liked.  The metallic voices calling for his death were also very, very, very much closer than he would have liked.  If robots could breathe, he would have felt it on the back of his neck.

“ _A foot or four_ ,” Sniper radioed as he took another one out.

“Wait, what?  Which is it??” Scout yelled into his mic as a rocket whizzed by him.

“ _Those three lil’ numbers make a big difference, don’t they_?” Engineer said, “ _Head towards the right gate.  Your right.  Backup’s setting up there_.”

Scout raced for the doorway to his right, ducking and squeaking in fear as Pyro swung an axe towards his head.  Well, it wasn’t towards his head, it was towards the bot’s, but it didn’t feel like that when it was that close.  He felt the wind whistle by as Pyro split the bot in half to the chest and was really glad he had ducked.

“Mmmt wasssh hadormnable.”

Scout squinted his eyes in confusion and looked over at his team mate.

“Did you just call me adorable?” He asked slowly, getting a giddy giggle and nod in reply as Pyro continued to chop and melt the small conga line of bots filing into the doorway, “Am not.”

Their exchanged laughter was cut short when explosions rocked the ground.  The Soldierbots and Demobots had reached the front lines and made their presence known.  As Scout raced off to go overload some systems with his bat,

From then, the fight turned into a blur of yelling, explosions, and flying debris.  Wave after wave of bots crashed against the gate, and the team was trying their best to hold them back.  The efficiency that the team started with strengthened as they figured out each other’s rhythms.  

But a sound then threw them off their groove.  Or rather, a missing sound did.

The respawn sputtered, going silent, before coughing back to a shaky life.

“Engie,” Scout said as he and Pyro loaded up at the dispenser, “You hear that?”

From the grim way the Texan’s jaw was set, it was obvious that be had.  Instead of responding to Scout, Engineer pressed a hand against the radio in his ear and began talking to the team as a whole.

“Respawn’s iffy.  Don't want anyone to rely on it,” He said,  “Doc, means you're gonna be working overtime here.”

 _“I always do,_ ” the German responded, “ _This is nothing new for me.  I can handle it_.”

_“If any of you get hurt, either go to Doc or come to my dispenser as quick as you can.”_

“ _And if you can't, let me know where you are so I **can** heal you_ ,” Medic finished.

Demo came stumbling into the room,  clothes and skin singed.  He slammed against the dispenser, making Engineer bolt over to keep it upright,  and then sank down against it.

“Good news, bad news, or good news?” Demo asked, coughing as he leaned back.

“Start with the good ones, Demo,” Scout said quickly.  With the news about respawn, and Pyro shaking,  he wanted yo hear something good.

“Took out a gaggle of Pyrobots with m’bombs.  Finished off that group of ‘em,” Demo said, “And I think I saw the end of the rows.”

“What's the bad news?” Scout asked, readily brandishing his gun as he watched Engineer race over and cover a doorway.

“They’re sending in the giants, “ Demo said, standing up with a soft groan as the dispenser continued to fix him up, “We may be reaching the end of the fight, but it isn't gonna be easy.”

“It never is, “ Engineer said as he came back to the group, black oil splattered over his overalls, “Take care out there.”

“You got it, Engie,” Scout said as he and Pyro began heading back to the field.  Pyro stuck right by his side, flamethrower gripped in their hands.

“We're gonna be okay, Pyro,” Scout said, “Let's just get this done so we can get it over with.”

“Shhho-” Pyro paused, barely pulling up their mask, “So we can play again?”

“Yeah,” Scout told them, “Let's get this done so we play together again, okay?”

“Okay,” Pyro said with a nod, sliding their mask back into place with the movement of their head, “Lrrrt’s mmmo!”

Scout raced out onto the field, giving a loud, encouraging whoop as he shot a cap in a giant Heavybot’s ass.  The actual Russian was over towards his right, mowing down the last of the smaller bots, with Soldier helping him out, before the larger one started to take the field.  Pyro moved on Scout’s left, separating to go take down a Spybot that had tried to copy their look.

The fight was nearing the end.  They were close to being home-free, to being done for the day, one last giant wave of bots and they were done.  One last push was all they needed.

Scout moved to dodge to the left, around a large Demobot, and fired some shots as he ran closer.  The bot retaliated, launching its own barrage of grenades at the boy.  They bounced and rolled as Scout hopped over them, too focused on his target to realize that one of the pellets had landed on some debris and ricocheted back his way.  

The explosion knocked him off of his feet, causing the Bostonian to sprawl face first into the dirt.  Pushing himself up onto his knees, he looked up just in time to see a rocket fired from a distant Soldierbot heading his way. He barely had time to get to his feet before the rocket exploded, sending him flying backwards.

There was a loud thud as he was flung back against a wall.  He hit the ground with a sharp crack, dazed and hurting.  Blood dripped down the back of his head, and burns decorated his legs.

His leg.  There was a bone sticking out of his thigh.  His right one.  That shouldn’t be there, not outside.  In.  It should be in.  In the in.

“ _Scout, move._ ”

There was a faint buzzing in his ear.  He could have sworn they were words.  Yelling.  Was it yelling?  He was in too much pain to focus on anything except the burning agony searing through his leg.  The noises around him were muffled, as if he was underwater, drowning too far into his pain to understand anything else.

“ _Move, Schnell!”_

Something fell on his head.  A part of a brick, it looked like.  Where had that come from?  Up?

“ _Protect little man until he is back in head.”_

Oh, there was a lot of stuff up there above him.  It was all kinda hanging off too.

“ _Son, you’ve got to move.”_

Kinda looked like it was going to fall.  That wouldn’t be good.  Especially because he was underneath it.

“ _Bushman, take out their Snipers before they take off his head.”_

There was a quiet boom somewhere above him.  

Fireworks?

“‘ _M already on it.”_

As the buzzing in his head subsided, the buzzing in his ear grew louder.  It also grew clearer.  Apparently the buzzing was words.

“ _Scout, can you hear me, lad?  You need to move behind cover.  Medic’s com_ -”

There was a loud explosion and a loud yell.  Scout heard both of them.  Another brick fell down next to him as the ground slowly stopped shaking.

“ _Medic’ll be there soon, after he patches up Soldier’s...Soldier.  Just all of Soldier._ ” Demo said.  It was Demo talking.  Scout recognized his accent, and finally could comprehend what the other man was saying as he finished up with,  “ _Get somewhere safe.  Do you understand?_ ”

“I-Yeah.” Scout said.  Talking was weird.  His head still felt all floaty.  Floaty and heavy all at the same time.  He didn’t want to talk a lot for once in his life.

As Scout tried to stand, a stupid move on his stupid broken leg, there was a ping above him.  A ping wasn’t too bad a noise to hear, except that, in this case, it was followed by a loud groan of shifting substances.  A Sniperbot’s shot had upset the precariously balanced debris above.  

Scout barely had time to look up and see the pile plummet towards him before his world turned dark.

It was hard to open up his eyes.  Dust and dirt entered his nose and mouth, blinding him if he so much as dared to try to take a peek.

He was pinned.  Pinned just like he had been under his brothers all those years ago.  Just like he had been at the bottom of the dog pile, wishing he could just breathe.  Keeping his breathing slow, as slow as he could anyway, he tried to calm himself down in anyway that he could.  He needed a hug.

He also needed to unbury himself.  It took some effort to push the debris off of his torso, but no amount of effort he put in would get that large chunk of building off his legs.  He tried to shove the concrete off, but it wouldn’t budge.  He had no chance of dodging anything sent his way.  None.

The grinding gears of an approaching Soldierbot sounded like a funeral song, and when the bot stopped to aim a rocket his way, Scout knew it was done.  He was done.  He had lost his gun, and he was trapped.  There was nothing he could do.

It felt like he was watching the even in slow motion.  The pull of the robot’s finger, the rocket flying towards him, everything else happening.  It was like a movie.

He closed his eyes, turning away and saying his prayers and apologizing to the big guy upstairs for a lot of his own crap.  While was was busying trying to make up a decent Lord’s Prayer substitute, he was unaware of footsteps racing his way.

There was slight breeze as someone moved past him, and then a huge blast of air followed by an explosion.

Scout opened his eyes to see Pyro panting in front of him, surveying the destroyed bot, taken out by its own airblasted rocket.  They turned back to look at him through their tinted lenses, and they dropped their flamethrower as they threw themselves against the debris pinning him down.

“Pyro, that ain’t gonna work.  It’s too heavy.” He said, quickly, trying to keep an eye out for any other threats while Pyro was distracted, “I tried.”

“You’re the fast one.  But fast doesn’t help when you’re stuck under stuff,” Pyro grunted, dipping their chin low so they weren’t muffled by the mask, “But I’m the stronger one.  And I’m gonna help you.”

Heaving, they managed to roll the rubble off of Scout’s even more cracked legs.  Scout, relieved to be free, dragged himself backwards with his arms.  That was all he could do right now.  His legs were kaput.

“Pyro-” Scout started to say, dazedly reaching for his team mates, but they were already by his side, starting to pick his broken body up.  As they slipped an arm under his back, the whir of a minigun caught their attention.  A Heavybot was aimed their way, maneuvering himself into a position to lock onto its targets.

Pyro tensed, glancing between Scout and at the too-close-for-comfort bot.  If they tried to move indoors, they’d be ripped to shreds.  If they stayed, they’d be ripped to shreds.  The only choice was to try to take it out, Pyro decided, that was the only chance that had.

Dropping Scout back down, Pyro lunged for their flamethrowers, scooping it up and racing towards the bot.  They ran in an arch around it, forcing the bot to change angle if they wanted to try to attack the biggest threat it had.

Scout watched as Pyro raced towards the bot.  What the hell were they doing?~

Well, whatever the hell it was, he hoped it worked.

“Go, Pyro!” He called out, watching as his team mate run towards the bot, confusing the machine by always being just out of its range.  Once they were close enough, they ignited the bot with their flame thrower, turning it into a useless pile of metal.

They turned back towards Scout once the threat was gone, beaming under their mask with pride.  They had done that.  All by themself.

Before Scout could congratulate them on a job well done, he became aware of a blue light lining up with his forehead.  With his limited mobility, all he could do was throw himself to the side, hoping to screw up the shot.

A shot rang out, Scout yelped in pain, and then there was another shot fired closer by.  A Sniperbot fell from its perch, but it was a moment too late to leave Scout unscathed.  Crimson started to pool around his middle, adding to the pond of red down by his legs.  Grimacing, he clutched at his side, pain blazing through him like a flashfire.

“ _Sorry ‘bout that one, mate_ ,” Sniper said over the radio, “ _Didn’t see it til’ his scope lit up_.”

Scout was in too much pain to properly respond, or think, and all he could do was an undignified grunt.

“ _Pyro, can you get him_?” Engineer asked, “ _Doc’s a bit preoccupied with somethin_ -”

“ _I swear to Gott that every team mate I have tried to heal has been a Spybot.  I am very, very-_ ” There was the scraping sound of metal ripping apart metal, _“-Tired of it.  I might just end up sawing one of you because of it._ ”

“ _Bet you’d enjoy that_ ,” Tavish said, “ _Call it an accident and get a peek at our insides while you’re at it-_ ”

“ _Later,_ ” Medic promised him.

“ _Pyro, do you have Scout?  Or do I need to come over there and help?_ ” Engineer asked again, the sound of his rifle going off punctuating his sentence for him.

“Mmm mmot mmm!” Pyro said, their words muffled even inside their helmet.  Engineer was convinced they did that on purpose.

“ _Alright then, bring him here_ ,” Engineer said, _“I’m centrally located, so Doc can get here easier than all the way over there.  Sniper’ll cover you.”_

“Mmm mmmrte?”

“ _No, Pyro, not with Jarate.  He’s gonna watch out for you is all_ ,” Engineer said, trying his darnedest to keep from smiling at the throught, “ _Now hurry it up.  I imagine that Scout’s pretty hurt after all that.  Sooner we fix him up, the better.”_

That was all the encouragement that Pyro needed.  Heaving the near-delirious Scout up into their arms, Pyro jogged as gently as they could.  Every step they took caused the boy to grunt in pain, even with being as careful as they could.  

And seeing as how, no matter what they did, Scout was hurting, they decided to make it like taking off a bandaid.  Hard, fast, painful, but over with sooner.

By the time they reached Engineer, Scout was delirious with pain.  They plopped him down against the dispenser and then looked towards Engineer, awaiting their next instruction.

“Oh, he don’t look too good,” Engineer said, crouching down in front of the boy, “Pyro, keep an eye out for us, will ya’?  I’m gonna check him out.”

Pyro gave a salute and then readied their flamethrower, pacing back and forth between the two doorways that lead to the corridor.

“Doc, you’re gonna wanna get over here when you have the chance.”

_“Dispenser not enough?”_

“His thigh bone’s cracked.  Dispenser can’t set a bone,” Engineer said, “Bullet in his gut.  Dispenser ain’t got tweezers neither.”

_“You don’t?”_

“Doc, I’ve got a wrench.  You don’t want me to use that for this.”

_“Oh, but it might be interesting-”_

“I ain’t using it for this.”

_“Ah.  That’s quite different from assuming **my** wants, isn’t it?”_

“...Given the attitude, I’m assuming you just overhealed a Spybot again.”

 _“It smacked its head with a shovel!  And did that blasted yell too,”_ Medic huffed _, “And who would program a bot to do that?  Well, apparently Gray...Was I really so wrong to assume that it was Soldier?”_

“...Just get over here when you have the chance.”

“ _I’ll be over as quickly as the robots allow_.” Medic paused, “ _We are nearing the end, though.  There’s only a few more bots.  Less than a hundred.  Do you think he can hold out that long?”_

“As long as the dispenser’s up, I don’t see why not.”

 _“I’ll fix him up after the wave, then._ ” Medic decided, “ _See you in a few minutes.”_

Engineer settled back on his heels, looking the pale boy over.  Poor fella looked like hell.

“Pyro, fetch me my water, will ya’?” Engineer asked, looking back over his left shoulder at the firebug.  When he didn’t hear any footsteps implying cooperation, Engineer glared at them over his right shoulder, “Pyro, I-”

Now, the Texan may have been a tired man.  He may have only slept for two hours last night.  He may be exhausted as burro hauling ass all day.  He may have tried to tighten a bolt with the wrong end of his wrench twice today.  

He may have been exhausted beyond belief, but even he realized that if there was a Pyro back over his left shoulder, then there certainly shouldn’t be one over his right.

He spun quickly, pulling out his pistol and pointing it defensively, firing at the Pyro on the right when the one on the left began brandishing their axe.  He missed, they only clipped it, but the bot fell over anyway, dropping its disguise before it hit the ground.

“That could have been messy,” Spy said, appearing in front of the other mercs, “And much better coordinated.  I nearly lost a hand thanks to you, Pyro, and my head thanks to you, laborer.”

“Might decided to show yourself a might second earlier then,” Engineer pushing himself back up to his feet, “Woulda’ appreciated it, Spy.  You here to complain or you got a reason?”

“Bullets.  I’m running short and I know better than to snatch up any metal that you might need when we have a dispenser running.”

“But when the dispenser’s up, and my gear’s top tier, y’all don’t nee-”

“Hush now, Dell,” Spy said as he crouched down next to Scout and began slowly, carefully, removing the bullets from the machine, “I had my reasons.”

“‘Course you did, Spy,” Engineer said quietly, “You always seem to.”

The seemingly still of the moment was interrupted by the shrill beeping of Engineer’s sentry, alerting the Texan to the fact that it was getting damaged by something.

“Aw, hell,” He said, looking over towards it, and glancing over at Scout before he started rushing over there, “Spy, stick by him a minute, would ya’?”

“Certainly.” Spy said, looking Scout over before becoming aware of a pile of latex out of the corner of his eye, “I have the strangest feeling that you do not trust me, Pyro.”

“Mmph.”

“I may be a backstabber by profession, but believe me when I say I have a certain, unfortunate soft spot for my team mates,” Spy said, watching as Pyro’s grip on their flamethrower tightened.

Ah, well, he certainly wasn’t going to stick around if one of their dangerous whims prompted fiery action.

Spy stood, defiantly looking over Pyro’s form as he cocked his revolver.  He glanced down at Scout one more time, watched as Engineer seemed to finish repairing his machine, and then looked Pyro straight in their glassy, lense-covered eyes.

“See if I replace that blanket gift that you so rudely burned up, Pyro” He said as he cloaked, “Perhaps I won’t.”

He probably would end up replacing it.  It was unfortunate to have such a soft spot for team mates.  Especially Scout and his friend.  Very unfortunate, especially for a man of his profession, but after not being allowed to experience family-life for so long, it was easy to become attached to the closest substitute he was allowed to have.

Pyro was frozen in place as Spy left, going over his parting words in their head.  Did he really mean that he was the one who had-

“Where’d Spy go?” Engineer asked, surveying the area as he came back over, “Aw, hell, that snake couldn’t even stay put for two minutes to help out, could he?  Slippery bastard.”

Pyro was about to actually argue with the Texan when they became aware of a loud noise coming from outside the doorway.  Distracted, they wandered over to go take a look and were consequently pummeled into by a flying Demoman.

“Sorry, Pyro,” He mumbled, slowly picking his sore body up off of the Pyro, “You know, I like being buddies with you, but I didn’t think we were ready to take the step to be the bosom kind.”

Pyro tilted their head in confusion, Engineer smiled, and there was childish laughter from behind all of them.

All three of the mercs turned to look, watching as Scout giggled absentmindedly, only half conscious and half aware of anything going on.

“Either he’s gettin’ loopy or I’m the world’s next best comedian,” Demo said.

“Hate to burst your bubble, Tav, but it’s probably the blood loss gettin’ to his head.” Engineer said, “Don’t quit your day job just yet, alright?”

“Shame.  I was ready to pull out the bumbling alcoholic routine,” Demo said, reloading his grenade launcher, “People seem to find _that_ funny.”

“How’s it looking out there?”

“Nearing the end.  Close now.  Only a few minutes more, tops.  Medic’s doing a great job keeping everyone up and fighting,” Demo said, looking over as Scout’s giggling fit only started to subside, “Present company excluded, of course.”

“Poor kiddo.  Least he’ll be first on Medic’s to-do list when the fight’s over,” Engineer said, “Pyro, you wanna stick here with him an’ me or go out and fight some more?”

Given the choice between staying with Dell and Scout, or going off and fighting the eveil nasty robots, Pyro was going to stay in the room.  They pointed down at the ground, mumbling their intention of staying and helping to defend the choke point.

“S’alright.  The rest of us have got a handle on it,” Demo said, “I’d rather have Pyro back here to keep an eye on the wounded and the tired.”

“You make me sound like I’m an invalid, Tav.  I just need a nap later,” Engineer said, pausing to yawn, “Scout here’s the one who needs watching over.”

“Whatever ye’ say, Dell,” Tavish said, giving Pyro a wink before rushing back out into the fight.  They offered him a salute in reply, and then set to keeping a watch out for both of their favorite people in the world.  They’d do a good job watching out for Scout and Engineer, they really would!

They began pacing once more, swiveling their head to keep looking between Engineer, Scout, and the various entrances to the corridor.  On their fourth or tenth lap - counting was hard - they grew distracted when they heard a muffled sob coming from behind them.

They whipped around to look, absolutely caught off-guard by what they were hearing.  Forgetting that they were supposed to be keeping watch, they rushed over to his side, trying to see if there was anything that they could do to help him and making him stop with the crying thing.  Crying wasn’t fun.

Before Pyro could do anything, Scout was bawling, his sobs dropping down to quiet gasps.  Though the fight may have drowned them out for most of the others, but Engineer and his keen hearing still managed to pick up on it.

“Is he okay?” He asked, peering over his sentry at the pair, “Aw, heck, the blood loss is finally gettin’ to him.”

“Hrrn?”

“He’s gettin’ a lil’ loopy in the head, I mean.  Dizzy, confused, emotionally unstable-ish.  All fun stuff.” Engineer said with a shurg.

“Isssh hmmm mmm mmn?”

Him?  Naw.” Engineer said, “He’ll be fine.  Dispenser’s numbed him up pretty good from any pain, so it ain’t nothing to worry about.  Jus’ don’t tease him about this later, okay?  Don’t wanna embarrass him too bad, ‘specially about something he probably can’t control.”

“I wrrrnt.”

“Didn’t think you would, firefly.  Jus’ wanted to make sure.” Engineer said, leaning on his sentry as he glanced out the doorway.

Pyro was immediately concerned by the Texan’s relaxed state.  They didn’t like being concerned about things, Engineer was much better about being concerned than they were, but right now he didn’t seem concerned.  Didn’t he realize that they were in the middle of a-

Silence.  

There was no clang-clang-clanging, no explosions, nothing.  Nothing except the music, the rainbows, and the loud whoop of team mates celebrating a victory.  All good noise.

It was so beautiful.

The music, the colors coming back, and the sound of the team’s chatter getting louder as they all walked closer.

They looked over excitedly at Engineer, an unseen smile lighting up their face.  A friendly grin met theirs, along with a happy, knowing look that was always in his eyes, and Engineer kneeled down to start putting his gear away.

“We make good team!” Heavy said as he stepped into the doorway, hauling his minigun with him.  The person he was apparently talking to, Medic, stepped through next.

Somehow, despite battling hundreds of bots and running around keeping everyone alive, with his hair damp with sweat and clothes splattered with blood, mud, and oil, Medic always looked put together.

The German crouched down next to Scout and Pyro, looking the delirious boy over.  He gently prodded at his middle, and trailed his fingers down to the cracked bone and feeling over his legs.  Removing his hand, prompted by Pyro’s staring warily at him, he looked over at the Engineer.

“Well, you certainly weren’t exaggerating his condition,” Medic said, “I also didn’t think you’d be downplaying this much.”

“Downplaying?” Engineer asked, worriedly peering over at the trio.

“His legs are broken in multiple places.  They’re not certainly as severe as the femur fracture, though, so I’m not surprised that you focused on the biggest injuries.” Medic said, “Given the situation, your condition, and his condition, I’m not surprised you missed the hairline fractures.  The dispenser has helped, I’ll just have to make sure they’re set correctly.  Also, speaking of, would you mind leaving your dispenser up for a bit?  Give the others a chance to patch themselves up while I work on him.”

Pyro gave a worried noise, trailing a gloved finger down Scout’s slim bicep.  Was it bad?

Engineer glanced at Pyro and Scout,  and then looked over at Medic.

“He’s gonna be okay, right?” He asked, “It ain’t bad, is it?”

“Of course he’ll be fine.  Do you doubt me that much?” Medic asked, “I reattached Soldier’s hands out there, do you think-?”

“I reattached my own hands, thank you very much,” Soldier said, marching into the room, “And all I needed was dental floss, twelve bolts, and an obnoxious amount of mud.”

“But then Medic actually reattched your hands, and that was after he fished them out of the mud puddle ye’ threw them in,” Demo reminded him as he followed, “Then removed all the bolts ye’ stuffed up your stump so you could actually use your arm, Jane.”

“Listen, private Blarneystone, if I had had appropriate tools, I would have patched myself up just fine.”

“Like what exactly?” Medic asked, subtly wiping away the tear trail on Scout’s cheek with his thumb.  Pyro quickly wiped away the other one, only slightly smacking Scout’s head back against the dispenser.

“Twenty seven pieces of bubble gum, for starters,” Soldier said, “Two needles, six spools of thread, a crow bar-”

“Fascinating.  You must show me your technique some time,” Medic said dryly, moving to support Scout in his arms, unaware of Heavy behind him silencing the other man with just a look.  He was far more distracted by Pyro pushing him off of Scout.

“Engineer?” Medic called over, aware from past experience that trying to negotiate for himself would get them nowhere, “Can you inform Pyro that I only wish to take Scout to the medi-bay.”

“They’re stubborn, Doc, not deaf,” Engineer said, packing up his teleporter, “Pyro, you wanna carry him?  Is that it?”

“Mmph!” Pyro responded, already scooping Scout up into their arms.

“Go with Doc, then,” Engineer said, “Lead ‘em to the bay, Doc, they’ll go right with you.”

“If you are so sure,” Medic said, standing tall and already starting to walk, “Come with me then, Pyro.  Make sure you support him well.  No dragging him on the ground.”

“Mmrrgh.”

“I know you wouldn’t, Pyro,” Engineer said, “Now go on, I’ll catch up when I can.”

Pyro and Medic walked over the Medibay, only being interrupted by Sniper coming down from his perch, pausing them only to give them all a thumbs up, and Spy, who momentarily inquired as to the boy’s condition before vanishing again.  

The trio made it into the sterile white room, and Medic pointed to the bed where he wanted Scout laid down.  While Pyro placed him as gently as they could, Medic slid the medigun off of his back, hooking it up to the attachment on the ceiling, adjusting it to find the right setting before he used it on the boy.

“Coloring books are in the bottom cabinet,” Medic told them, pulling surgical tools out of a drawer to get the bullet out of the boy,“Please go sit in the corner while I work.”

“Mrrmmph.”

“Do I have to get Engineer in here?” He said, trying a different approach from his typical scolding parent mode,  “I can’t make Scout feel better unless you’re over there.  I don’t want either of you to get hurt worse.  Now sit, please, Pyro.”

Pyro moaned in protest, but they pulled out the coloring book about a cat and his many hats, and went and sat in the corner.  They lost track of time, unaware of Engineer stepping into the room until he spoke.

“Everyone’s in and everything’s packed up.  Want me to go work on the respawn system now or do you want me to wait for you to join?”

“I’d rather you rest for now, Dell,” Medic said, never looking away from Scout’s body while he worked, “As much as I encourage creative approaches, I don’t believe that sleep-deprived is a good one for something as technical as the respawn system.”

“Alrighty then, Engineer said, noticing the Pyro in the corner.  He walked over to them, sitting down next to them as they doodled, “What are you up to, firefly?”

For as long as he could, Engineer nodded along with Pyro’s rapid, in-depth explanation of their abstract creation and as to why they decided to ignore the rigidity of the already printed lines of a kitten in a cap and instead pursue a more fanciful sketch of themselves riding on the back of a balloonicorn and why the creature was an example of the fragility of the imagination and how it could be strengthened with practice and-

Oh, Engineer was asleep.  Never mind.

Medic was now standing by the sink, washing his tools off.  And Engineer was leaning back against the wall dozing.  Which meant that Pyro could go over and see how Scout was doing.

As silently as a Pyro could, which wasn’t very because Medic immediately noticed them tiptoeing over towards the boy but decided to observe instead of interfere, they made their way next to his bed.

With their back to Medic, they watched him gently stir in his sleep, just starting to open his eyes as the numbing drugs Medic had used on him in pity started to wear off.

The world was very blurry for the boy.  Bright lights and white walls greeted him, as well as a red and black splotch in the corner of his vision.  As his eyes started to focus on the world around him, and his senses started to come back, he became aware of the hum of a medigun somewhere around him.  

He also became aware of a bug-eyed-lensed-masked face staring at him.  It was terrifying sight to wake up to, even if he did recognize it as Pyro a minute later.  At least his heart stopped racing when he recognized who it was.

“Heeeeey buddy,” Scout said slowly with a dopey grin on his face, some drug still coursing through his system, “How’s my best Pyro buddy face friend doin’?”

“Mmmph-” They said, pausing to lift up their mask and lower their voice, “How are you, Scout?”

“I feel like I’m flyyyyyyying,” Scout said with a laugh, unaware that if his vision had been working that he would have seen a wide toothy grin and a button nose instead of Pyro’s usual mask-covered face, “Are we flying?”

“No,” They said with a laugh, gently shaking their head, “You’re in the medibay in a bed.”

“I’m not flying?”

“No.” Pyro said, watching the frown cross Scout’s face, “Because you just landed.  You were flying before.  I promise you were.”

“Pyrooooo, did we win?” He asked, apparently pleased with the fact that he had been flying, “Did we doing the winnings?”

“Um, yeah.  Yes,” They said, “We won the fight.  You did a really, really good job out there, Scout.”

“Course I did.  I’m the bestestest Scout we’ve got.  The bestestestestest.”

“Yeah, you are.” Pyro said affectionately, a mischievous idea forming in their head, “Hey, Scout.”

“Wah?”

“Scout, Scout, Scout,” They said, almost bouncing with excitement as they put a hand on his arm, “Guess what, guess what, guess what?”

“What’s it, Pyro?”

And their next words caused Scout to laugh genuinely, an infectious sound that roused Engineer and even put a smile on Medic’s face as he watched the two of them interact; most importantly, though, what was said made Scout smile and Pyro feel even more proud of themselves than they had already felt today:

“ _Tag, you’re it!_ ”


	2. Alternate ending (Angst angle)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter available on tumblr here: http://littlemissfemscout.tumblr.com/post/143928230167/tag-youre-it
> 
> Warning for death in this chapter

“ _Tag, you’re it!_ ”

That was a battle cry that the RED team had grown accustomed to hearing echoing through their base during the off-hours.  Most of the team thought the game was silly, childish even, and saw no point in participating when there was actual work to be done.  But for the team’s two youngest members, Scout and Pyro, the game was a great way to fill time.

It was hardly a fair game, though.  Scout’s speed and agility gave him an advantage, and he made good use of it.  Without lugging around an axe or a flamethrower, Pyro was fast, but they were too clumsy to even try to attempt to scale the crates that Scout jumped nimbly on, instead chasing him from the ground until he took mercy and hopped down.  

Every day they were always “it”, from morning ‘til night, when they restarted their game, and first thing the next day.  Always.

They were going to get him one of these days, though.  One day, they were going to be able to tap him and proudly say that they had gotten him instead for once.

But as the sunset appeared and truces were called, Pyro realized that today wasn’t going to be that day.

That was okay.  They had had fun today.  

They’d get him tomorrow, they were sure!

The team met in the mess hall for dinner.  Engineer was putting down a large plate of fried chicken on the table when he froze as he watched the two of them walk in.

“Y’all called it for the day?” He asked, watching the two of them, “The two of you aren’t gonna play again during dinner, are you?”

“Nah, we trucified,” Scout said as Pyro nodded in agreement, “We ain’t gonna be running around the table during dinner again.”

“Good, because last time you two almost flipped the table right over.” Engineer reminded them as he put the plate down , “Not to mention that you dumped the gravy in Spy’s lap and almost made Soldier start a combative food fight in retaliation.”

“Yeah, and Demo had to make him put down the bones from the ribs ‘fore he started slingin’ them around.  It was great,” Scout said with a laugh, his smile falling when he saw how tiredly Engineer was looking at him, “…Are we in trouble again?”

“I think making the two of you scrub the showers sparklin’ clean was punishment enough.  Haven’t seen them that white in a while,” Engineer said, “Just keep y’alls asses in your chairs durin’ dinner alright? Don’t have a problem with your lil’ game, keeps you two busy and outta’ others’ hair, as long as you’re not being disruptive during team times.”

“But you and Heavy don’t have hair.” Scout replied mischievously as he took a seat.  Engineer opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by an amused snort.  Pyro had to cover their mouth as they were caught off-guard by Scout’s reply, but with their mask in their way, their hand didn’t so much good to muffle them.

“If you have time to crack jokes at my expense, then you have time to carry plates to the table.” He said as he headed back to the kitchen, “C’mon you two.”

By the time the others had arrived, Scout and Engineer had carried most of the plates, and Pyro had been tasked with carrying napkins and silverware as well as setting the table.  Instead of the regular rectangular napkins greeting the mercs, each one got some sot of origami, from a swan to a turtle to something most likely interpretivly abstract and slightly crumpled.

Pyro and Scout sat next to each other at the table, across from Engineer so that he could keep an eye on and quash any possible shenanigans before they escalated.  The others kept an eye on them, and it wasn’t until dinner was half-way over before they relaxed.

Everyone relaxed except for Soldier anyway.

“How can you call yourselves soldiers when you’re wasting time here eating?” Soldier asked as he ripped into a drumstick, “Those bots have a plan to destroy us, I can just feel it.  We should be figuring out how to counter it and carry ourselves to victory.  Not eating with our napkins out and pinkies in our lap.”

“Soldier, you say that every night.” Scout said,  “Just last night you were convinced that Sniper was an undercover operative from the Kangaroo kingdom.  Last month you thought that Pyro was relaying battle plans with smoke signals when they went to burn the scrap pile.  Before that you thought that Medic and Heavy were fra-”

“Enough, little man.” Heavy interrupted.

“If you keep going over all of Soldier’s imaginative lunacies, we’re going to be here all night,” Medic agreed quickly.

“Sol, we’ll talk about battle plans later.  After dinner.” Engineer said, “Can’t we just eat in peace for one night without you ranting and raving about something or another?”

With a huff of a grumble, Soldier quieted down and gnawed at his chicken.  Apparently the promise of battle plans was all it took to quiet him down, but only as long as they were followed through.

Next to Scout there was a quiet whimper.  Pyro cringed as they remembered that, two nights ago, how Soldier had been trying to rip their mask off and corner them to make them confess how they were a secret agent or something like that.  It had been loud.  It had been scary.  Scout and Engineer and the others had had to pull them apart.  It had been so, so, so scary.

“Hey, it’s okay.  I’ll protect you,” Scout reassured them quietly, his hand bumping their leg as he offered it to them.  They immediately grabbed his hand in with their glove covered ones, holding on tight to him.

Of course, Scout wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t have the table blocking people’s view of their hands.  He didn’t want to be seen as a wuss or a sap, someone who let their emotions get the better of them and cried when they got a boo-boo.  He had an image to protect.

And that was why if someone wanted to know why the right-handed boy was struggling with his left to eat his peas he was going to make up something.  Probably wouldn’t be the best excuse, but it’d be _something_.

Luckily, no one asked.  Probably because they knew or because they didn’t notice, but either way was fine with Scout as long as he had his tough guy image mentally intact.  

Through dinner and then through the team meeting right after, the two of them held hands.  Scout’s got sweaty, holding tight onto a rubber glove could do that to guy, but not once did he ask to let go.  It wasn’t up to him when it time to stop, that was Pyro’s decision.  And Pyro didn’t decide to stop until the meeting was well over and only three stragglers were talking.

“You know, you two might want to get to bed,” Engineer said as he reentered the room and picked up the last few dishes, “Been running wild all day and we’re going to need you out there tomorrow.  Go to bed.”

“Hey, you ain’t my dad,” Scout said, “So you can’t tell me what to do.”

“At least go lay down somewhere, would ya’?  Pyro’s probably plum tuckered out,” Engineer said as he headed for the door, “Jus’ ‘cause you drink that radioactive slushie doesn’t mean everyone can pull all-nighter’s like you do, Scout.”

Scout glanced over at Pyro, and saw how they were tiredly slouched in their chair, but doing their best to stay awake.

“Alright, alright, we’re going to go relax somewhere, but not ‘cause you said to!” Scout yelled after Engineer’s quietly chuckling form, and then he looked over at Pyro, “You wanna go chill in my crib?’

“Hmm?”

“My room, ya’ numbnut.  You wanna go relax in my room?” Scout asked, “Should be kinda quiet, and we won’t bump into Soldier like we would in the main room.  You wanna do it?”

“Mmm hmmm!” Pyro said with an excited nod, already starting to stand up, dragging the poor boy to his feet.  The promise of a sanctuary, a quiet one where they’d be safe, was too good to ignore.  Despite how tired they were right now - running all day and playing could do that to a Pyro - they were thrilled about going somewhere safe and quiet, where there’d be no yelling or fighting.  Today had been loud enough already.

The two of them headed down to Scout’s room, doing their best to avoid the others.  It wasn’t entirely necessary to do, they weren’t all like Soldier, but when Scout saw how nervous Pyro had become once they heard Medic talking down the hall, he had turned it into a sort of secret agent kinda game.  Pyro was okay with doing just about anything if it was a game.  Sometimes, to Scout, it was a game to see how many things he could turn into a game.

When they stepped inside Scout’s room, Pyro took a moment to marvel at the many posters up on the wall.  He didn’t know who they were, they were just men in baseball uniform and women is not much of anything at all to Pyro, but they could appreciate the bright colors that had gone into the decorations.  They also looked quite flammable, but Scout had told them not to set fire to his things.  A boring request, but it was that they would respect.

“Crayons are in the top drawer, so’s your paper,” Scout said as he grabbed a magazine off of his dresser and flopped onto his bed, “Feel free to use the desk or the floor.”

Pyro knew quite well where their things were kept in here, but they didn’t pull open the drawer to get them.  Instead, they stood in front of the dresser, thinking.

Their hesitance didn’t go unnoticed by Scout, who peered up from his magazine to glance over at them.

“What’s up?” He asked, “Need to go piss or something?”

“Nrrr”

“Something missing from your stuff?”

“Nrrrppp.”

Scout bit his lip in thought, buck teeth pinning down his bottom lip, and he glanced up at the ceiling as if his Tom Jones and Janis Joplin poster he had tacked there could help him out.  Finally, after thirty seconds, he gave up.

“What do you want?” He said as he looked back at his magazine, “Mask off the mouth if you wanna really talk.  Can’t understand you otherwise.  I won’t look.”

“Promise?” Pyro asked, looking away as they slide their mask up just barely, “You won’t look?”

“Not until you’re ready for me to.” Scout replied with a shrug, trying his darnedest to keep his eyes on the magazine and not towards the enigma to his right.  He wanted to look so bad.  But if he ever wanted to see what was under the mask, they he was gonna have to not blow his chance now.

“Can…” Pyro paused, “Can I lay down with you?”

“Uhhh, sure.” Scout said, looking to see which side it’d be easier to scoot towards, “But don’t you wanna go sleep in your bed?

Before he figured out which way to go, Pyro was already plopping down on the closest side to them.  Inside edge of the bed it was for Scout.

“I burned my blanket up,” Pyro said, “It was an accident that time, for real.  It was my favorite.  It was really soft…It was also very flammable.”

It was a shame that didn’t know where it had come from.  It was just left outside their door one day.  They figured that Scout had given it to them, or maybe Engineer, but they didn’t know.  All they knew was that they had really liked it, it was nice to hug, and they had accidentally set it on fire and if there was one thing they were bad at it was putting out fires.  Poor blanket.

“…What’s this about really?” Scout asked, turning to lay on his side and face the wall instead of Pyro, “Worried about tomorrow?”

“Yeah…”

Scout raised his head, about to turn and see if it was actually Pyro in the bed, and not a Spy.  It’d be weird if it was Spy, either team’s.  Pyro was never worried about a fight, though, not as far as he had ever seen.

  
“Why ya’ worried?” He asked.

“I don’t like fighting the bots.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re…too loud.  And metal-y.  It makes pretending hard.” Pyro said, trailing a finger down the slim bicep of Scout’s arm, “I can’t see rainbows.  And I can’t hear the music because of all the clang-clang-clanging they make.  It’s so dark.  Fights are supposed to be fun.  But fighting the robots is scary.  I don’t like it.  Neither does Balloonicorn.”

“Ah, ‘Balloonicorn’ doesn’t?”

“Huh uh.  It’s like fighting a bunch of weird, lifeless dolls,”  Pyro said, “Like that movie we watched last month that made you scream really hi-”

“Hey, enough of that.  I keep telling you it wasn’t a scream.  It was a tactical battle cry.”

“Like Soldier said when he stubbed his toe on the stove?…Oh, what if Soldier’s right?” They asked, laying their mostly covered head down on the pillow next to Scout’s, “Tomorrow sounds like it’s going to be bad.  Like baaaaaad bad.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it.  We’ll trounce those tin cans.” Scout said, “We always do.”

“But what if we don’t?” Pyro asked, “I just want to be able to run and play again with you, Scout.  And fight the BLUs again.  Not those…mean things.”

“We’ll be fine, Pyro.  And we’ll be playing tag again real soon -” Scout said, gasping suddenly when the firebug’s arms wrapped around his unfortunately ticklish middle, “What’s this for?”

“I needed to hug someone.” Pyro said simply, “And Balloonicorn’s busy right now.  So I’m gonna hug you.”

“Are you?” Scout asked teasingly, receiving a strong squeeze in reply.

“What are you gonna do about it?” Pyro asked playfully, picking up on his tone, “I’m stronger than you.”

“I’m faster.”

“Fast can’t help you when I’m already holding on.” Pyro said with a giggle.

“Sure it can.  I can-”

“Hey, Scout.  Scout Scout Scout.  What if…” Pyro paused as they dropped their voice down to a giggly whisper, “What if I tickle you right now?”

“Don’t.” Was all he managed to get out before latex-gloved hands dipped beneath his shirt and started the torturous tickling.

“Pyro, stop.” Scout gasped before a fit of laugh overtook his words.  Pyro laughed, doing their best to pin his wiggly self down to continue.

It was all fun and games, Scout tried to tell himself.  It was just tickling.  Just.  Tickling.  

But memories of being pinned under a stack of his brothers, as the youngest he somehow always ended up on the bottom, and the tickling stopped being just fun and games..  Scout’s laughter soon turned from giggly to panicked as a claustrophobic feeling of being pinned surfaced.

“S-Stop-” He wheezed, trying to push them off.  Unfortunately, their strength ensured that they were going to keep him right where they wanted.  And they wanted to tickle him more.

He couldn’t take it anymore, he couldn’t breath, he was scared.

“Stop!” He yelled as he shoved them off of him and, consequently, off of the bed.  Pyro landed with a thud, and gave a confused whimper as they looked up at Scout, who had curled himself up into a tight ball.  His form heaved as ragged breathing shook his body.

“I fucking told you to stop, Pyro” Scout said with a cough and a shake in his voice, refusing to turn around and look at them, “Stop means stop.”

“But you were laughing?” Pyro said, I thought you were having fun?”

“I was, for like a minute, but then I needed you to stop.  Really really bad. Scout said, “And then you didn’t.  So I had to kick you.”

Pyro sat there, looking at Scout’s back, not understanding him.  How could tickling be fun but then not be fun?  They didn’t get it.

But ever if they didn’t get it, they had obviously done something that upset Scout,  and they didn’t like upsetting Scout because he was their friend, so they needed to fix that and apologize as best they could.

“Sorry…I didn’t mean to hurt you, Scout.”

“I know you didn’t. “

The silence that then flowed between them was awkward and uncomfortable. Pyro shifted on the floor, unsure now of what to do or say.

“Do you want me to leave?” They finally asked.

“No.  You don’t gotta do that.” Scout said.  He was embarrassed to be seen like this, and he couldn’t even look at Pyro to try to assert himself as a man, not unless he broke that promise he had made.  He wasn’t supposed to look at Pyro when their mask was up, because they weren’t comfortable with it.  Eventually, they promised, but eventually hadn’t come yet.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

He wasn’t.  But considering how uneasy Pyro was about tomorrow, it probably wasn’t in the team’s, or Scout’s, best interest to upset the firestarter.  If he sent them away now they’d be worried or scared, they wouldn’t sleep well, and they wouldn’t fight well because of it.  It had happened before, and Scout didn’t want it to happen again.

The bed slowly tilted as Pyro gently climbed back up and lay down next to Scout.  They slowly, ever so slowly, draped an arm over him and held him gently.  If what they were doing was wrong, Scout would let them know.  At least they hoped he would.

As long as Pyro wasn’t squeezing tightly, or holding him down or making it hard to breathe, Scout was okay.  Having just an arm loosely holding on to him wasn’t that bad, Scout thought as the two of them slowly started to drift to sleep, it wasn’t that bad at all.  Kinda nice even.

When Scout woke up the next morning looked around, his bed was cold and he was alone.  That wasn’t unusual, Pyro usually left before Scout was awake.  They were shy like that.  Scout didn’t usually dream about bikini models holding on to him and giving his cheek some kisses, and yet he never woke up feeling like he had actually been giving one.  Huh.

He joined the team at breakfast.  There was no talking and a somewhat solemn mood floating around the table, as each men and Pyro tried to mentally prepare for the fight to come.  It wasn’t going to be an easy one.

The quiet started to bother Scout.  It was odd to just hear breathing, chewing and sipping,, sighs and grunts, instead of actual words.  In fact, it was annoying.  Really annoying.

“So youse’ guys ready for today?” Scout asked as he loaded up his plate with scrambled eggs and grits, “We ready to go out and thrash ‘em?”

“Respawn’s been glitching.” Demoman told him, “Engie’s been working on it since two this morning.”

“He’s what?” Scout asked, “What’s going on with it?”

“Don’ know exactly.  System’s been givin’ him fits an’ sputterin’ off.” Demo replied as he polished off a biscuit, “Tried to help him out, but don’ know much about robotics m’self.  Not my area of expertise.”

“Too bad he doesn’t need ya’ ta’ blow something up.” Scout said as he sat down next to Pyro.

“I know more than that, ya’ daft loon,” Demo said angrily, “One crossed wire, one way-”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it before,” Scout said with a wave of his hand, “Can Doc help him any?”

“Where do you think he is right now?” Heavy said, “He is with Engineer.”

“That make you jealous?” Scout asked mischievously.  Before Heavy could retort, though, Soldier marched into the room.

“Are you pansies ready to go out there and fight?” He asked, “Do we need to go over the plan again?  I want all my men ready out there.”

“Soldier, we went over the plan a ton last night,” Scout said, “I don’t think we-”

“I don’t care.  One more time won’t hurt.” Soldier said gruffly, “I want all my men ready out there, and I want them all to come back.”

Pyro waved around, searching for Scout’s hand under the table.  When they located it, they held on tight.  The somber mood had pierced their veil of rainbows and sunshine and it was terrifying to see everything so gray.

Engineer walked into the room, goggles on his head and bags beneath his eyes, wiping at his dirty hands with a dirty rag that wasn’t doing much to help.  Tiredly, he sat down on Pyro’s other side and slouched in the chair.  Medic walked in right after him, somehow looking far more pristine despite the oil and grease trailing on his coat.

“You get it fixed, Dell?” Demo asked, eye looking between the two men.

“It’s a duct tape fix right now,” Engineer said with a yawn, “I’ll have to take the system apart later, ‘cause we don’t have time right now, but at least it’s runnin’ fairly smoothly right now.”

“What do you mean by duct tape fix?” Scout asked, “You mean you actually used duct tape to hold our life-support system together?”

“Technically, it’s electrical tape,” Medic said as he took another seat, taking a moment to make sure his glasses were clean and consequently get grease on the sides on his face.

“Wait, what-”

“At least it’s not a blender,” Dell said with a yawn, “Still can’t believe that dosh garn contraption of yours works, Doc.”

“Electrical tape,” Medic said brightly, as if it was the secret fix of a lifetime.  

In this case, it might be.

“Well, whatever it is, we’ve all got to hope that it holds together through the fight today,” Engineer said with a sigh, “Let’s try to make it a fast one out there.”

Sniper soon entered the room, holding two cups of coffee.  He wordlessly placed one down in front of Engineer and then moved to sit at the table.  Glancing up, he saw Medic look almost hopefully at the other cup, then up at Sniper, before looking away.  With a grumble, the Aussie plopped the of mug down in front of the Medic and left the room to get a cup that was actually going to be for himself.

“ _Danke_ ,” Medic called after him as Engineer simultaneously hollered a “Thanks, Slim.”

“Next cup’s mine,” Sniper called back, instead of a more proper response.

“Hey, Pyro,” Engineer said, a tired smile lighting up his face, “How’d you sleep last night?”

“Mmmmd.”

“That’s good to hear.  You check your tank yet?” Dell asked, watching as they shook their head in response, “We’ll have to do that before the fight, just to make sure you’re ready out there today.”

“It’s not that bad, is it, Engie?” Scout asked as he held hand started to grow slick with his own sweat.

“Hopefully not.” The Texan said.  

That wasn’t the sort of answer Scout wanted to hear from a man of facts and science.  That wasn’t a good, solid no.  He wasn’t sure enough to back up his handiwork with a good, solid no, and that was terrifying.

That was the subtle sort of nuance that Pyro had never been very good at catching, though, so they were cheered up by the Texan’s “reassurances”.

“Your stuff ready too, Scout?” Engineer asked him.

“Yeah, I always get it ready after the last fight so I don’t gotta’ worry about it.” Scout said, “What about you, Tex?  Is your stuff ready to go?”

“Basically.” Engie said with a tired nod, taking a moment to close his eyes and rest them.

“You, uh…” Scout’s eyes flickered over the man, “You gonna be okay for the match?”

“I’ll be fine, Scout, you just worry about yourself,” The Texan said, cracking an eye open to look at the boy, “Now go get ready.  Match starts in a few.”

Scout and Pyro slowly stood up and headed down the hall, lagging behind those that had gotten a head start of them.

“Guess we can’t call a truce this time, huh?” Pyro quietly asked a nervous laugh bubbling up out of them.  Their head was tucked and they were keeping their mask as low as they could while leaving their mouth free.  Apparently Scout wasn’t the only one who talked while nervous, to try to chatter off some of that scared energy.

“Against bots?  Man, I wish,” Scout said with a laugh, “I never thought I’d actually want to be going up against those BLUs.  But at least they understand that when respawn’s on hold, fighting’s on hold.  Next time I see the BLU Scout, might just give him a high-five instead of beating.”

Pyro gave a low, anxious moan.  If they had wanted to add anything else, they lost the chance as soon as them and Scout stepped into the respawn room.

The team present was busy getting ready, and the conversations were lacking as tensions were high.  The hum of respawn may be present, and the noise was carrying through the air vent, but everyone knew that there was strong chance that the tape holding the delicate machinery together might not be enough.

“Hey, you think Engie’s gonna be okay out there today?” Scout asked to nobody in particular, “He looks exhausted.  Last time I saw him this tired, he had stayed up all night to keep an eye on a fevered Pyro.  Can he fight?”

“He can and he will,” Soldier said stoutly, “We cannot afford to be down a man out there today.”

“I’ll stick close to him, ta’ make sure nothing overwhelm’s him,” Demo said, as he loaded up his grenade launcher, “We’ll have each other’s backs.  Scout, Pyro, that means you have each other’s, alright?”

Scout glanced over at Pyro, who had their backs to everyone as the rifled through their locker.  There was a quick turn of their head, away from Demo and Scout, as they tried to hide how they had been listening in.

“We’ll watch out for each other, Demo.  We always do,” Scout said as he walked past Pyro’s back, reaching up to lightly smack, more a tap, on the back of their head, “Hey, Py.   _Tag, you’re it_.”

Before Pyro could respond in any manner, Medic strolled into the room, silencing any shenanigans with his stoic presence.  Engineer and Heavy followed along behind, with the Texan carrying one of his toolboxes and Heavy carrying Sasha.

“Y’all ready?” The Texan asked, opening up his locker with one hand while he used his gunslinger arm to support the box.  He shoved his prepped pistol into his holster, and then whipped his shotgun shut after checking its ammo.

“Taking a thermos of coffee out there with you, sleepyhead?” Demo asked the Texan, trying his hardest to lighten the mood.

“Listen, Tav, just because we don’t all need eight hours of beauty sleep like yourself-”  Engineer started to teased, but he was cut off from a playful pat on the side from Demo.

“I don’t need beauty sleep.  It’s all natural.” He replied

“Suuuure it is,” Scout cut in, bouncing on his toes as he watched the count-down timer drop second by second.

“Hmmm hud haaah hmmd,” Pyro said as they fidgeted, eyes glued to the times, adding, “Nnrrr hsss hmmd hss Mmmt.”

Engineer burst out laughing at Pyro’s mumbles.  He was the only one, though.  No one else understood the firebug.

“You really think that?” He asked.

“Mmm hmm.”

“Stick close by him today, okay?” Engineer said with a tired grin on his face, turning to look at Scout, “You’re working with Pyro, right?”

“Yessir.” Scout replied, unsure of what had been said about him a moment before.

“Good.” Engineer said as the counter hit ten seconds.  He reached an arm out, wrapping it around Pyro’s middle in a quick hug before he adjusted his grip on his toolbox, “You’re going to do great out there, Firefly.”

“Mmm mmp sssho.” was all Pyro said before the gates opened and the team raced.  True to their word, Pyro stuck as close to Scout as they could, ready to offer him cover and support if he needed it.

Scout sped ahead, surveying the field and radioing as much as he could back to the team.  If he did his job well, they’d have another minute or two to prepare accordingly for any glitches or oversights they may have had.

And it looked bad. Worse than Soldier had said.  Worse than the numbers Spy had tried to figure out.  Rows upon rows of bots were descending from the hills in front of them, walking closer like a marching band of shiny death.  It was really bad.

“We’re in trouble,” Scout radioed, “Big trouble.”

“… _How much_?” Engineer asked him, “ _How many you see_?”

Scout looked over at the hundreds of bots slowly heading their way.

“More than ten.” He said confidently as he started to backtrack, “Way more than ten.”

“ _I’d estimate three hundred or so.  Not that worst we’ve had_ ,” Sniper added, “‘ _Course, they’re still coming.  Who knows how many’s behind ‘em?_ ”

Engineer sighed, cursing quietly under his breath.

“ _How much time you estimate we’ve got to setup_ -”

“Probably like a minute or four,” Scout said.

“ _-Slim_.” Engineer finished.

“ _I’d estimate five tops_.” Sniper said, a quiet gloating over Scout in his tone, “ _How’s the building coming, sleeping beauty_?”

“ _Demo ain’t got anything to build, Slim, you know that_ ,” Engineer said with a laugh, adding, “ _Scout, buddy back up with-_ ”

‘“ _Scoutbots are coming fast, they took a side path away from the group and out of sight ‘til now.  Looks like a quick swarm of them’s breaking the gate_ ,” Sniper said quickly, “ _Get back close, rabbit, you don’t wanna get surrounded already_.”

“ _Get back with Pyro now_.” Engineer ordered.

“Already on it,” Scout as he raced back towards the base, back turned to the onslaught of bots, “How much distance I got-?”

A shot rang out and whizzed closer by Scout than he would have liked.  The sound of metal collapsing and falling to the dusty ground was also closer than he would have liked.  The metallic voices calling for his death were also very, very, very much closer than he would have liked.  If robots could breathe, he would have felt it on the back of his neck.

“ _A foot or four_ ,” Sniper radioed as he took another one out.

“Wait, what?  Which is it??” Scout yelled into his mic as a rocket whizzed by him.

“ _Those three lil’ numbers make a big difference, don’t they_?” Engineer said, “ _Head towards the right gate.  Your right.  Backup’s setting up there_.”

Scout raced for the doorway to his right, ducking and squeaking in fear as Pyro swung an axe towards his head.  Well, it wasn’t towards his head, it was towards the bot’s, but it didn’t feel like that when it was that close.  He felt the wind whistle by as Pyro split the bot in half to the chest and was really glad he had ducked.

“Mmmt wasssh hadormnable.”

Scout squinted his eyes in confusion and looked over at his team mate.

“Did you just call me adorable?” He asked slowly, getting a giddy giggle and nod in reply as Pyro continued to chop and melt the small conga line of bots filing into the doorway, “Am not.”

Their exchanged laughter was cut short when explosions rocked the ground.  The Soldierbots and Demobots had reached the front lines and made their presence known.  As Scout raced off to go overload some systems with his bat,

From then, the fight turned into a blur of yelling, explosions, and flying debris.  Wave after wave of bots crashed against the gate, and the team was trying their best to hold them back.  The efficiency that the team started with strengthened as they figured out each other’s rhythms.  

But a sound then threw them off their groove.  Or rather, a missing sound did.

The respawn sputtered, going silent, before coughing back to a shaky life.

“Engie,” Scout said as he and Pyro loaded up at the dispenser, “You hear that?”

From the grim way the Texan’s jaw was set, it was obvious that be had.  Instead of responding to Scout, Engineer pressed a hand against the radio in his ear and began talking to the team as a whole.

“Respawn’s iffy.  Don’t want anyone to rely on it,” He said,  “Doc, means you’re gonna be working overtime here.”

 _“I always do,_ ” the German responded, “ _This is nothing new for me.  I can handle it_.”

_“If any of you get hurt, either go to Doc or come to my dispenser as quick as you can.”_

“ _And if you can’t, let me know where you are so I **can** heal you_ ,” Medic finished.

Demo came stumbling into the room,  clothes and skin singed.  He slammed against the dispenser, making Engineer bolt over to keep it upright,  and then sank down against it.

“Good news, bad news, or good news?” Demo asked, coughing as he leaned back.

“Start with the good ones, Demo,” Scout said quickly.  With the news about respawn, and Pyro shaking,  he wanted yo hear something good.

“Took out a gaggle of Pyrobots with m’bombs.  Finished off that group of ‘em,” Demo said, “And I think I saw the end of the rows.”

“What’s the bad news?” Scout asked, readily brandishing his gun as he watched Engineer race over and cover a doorway.

“They’re sending in the giants, “ Demo said, standing up with a soft groan as the dispenser continued to fix him up, “We may be reaching the end of the fight, but it isn’t gonna be easy.”

“It never is, “ Engineer said as he came back to the group, black oil splattered over his overalls, “Take care out there.”

“You got it, Engie,” Scout said as he and Pyro began heading back to the field.  Pyro stuck right by his side, flamethrower gripped in their hands.

“We’re gonna be okay, Pyro,” Scout said, “Let’s just get this done so we can get it over with.”

“Shhho-” Pyro paused, barely pulling up their mask, “So we can play again?”

“Yeah,” Scout told them, “Let’s get this done so we play together again, okay?”

“Okay,” Pyro said with a nod, sliding their mask back into place with the movement of their head, “Lrrrt’s mmmo!”

Scout raced out onto the field, giving a loud, encouraging whoop as he shot a cap in a giant Heavybot’s ass.  The actual Russian was over towards his right, mowing down the last of the smaller bots, with Soldier helping him out, before the larger one started to take the field.  Pyro moved on Scout’s left, separating to go take down a Spybot that had tried to copy their look.

The fight was nearing the end.  They were close to being home-free, to being done for the day, one last giant wave of bots and they were done.  One last push was all they needed.

Scout moved to dodge to the left, around a large Demobot, and fired some shots as he ran closer.  The bot retaliated, launching its own barrage of grenades at the boy.  They bounced and rolled as Scout hopped over them, too focused on his target to realize that one of the pellets had landed on some debris and ricocheted back his way.  

The explosion knocked him off of his feet, causing the Bostonian to sprawl face first into the dirt.  Pushing himself up onto his knees, he looked up just in time to see a rocket fired from a distant Soldierbot heading his way. He barely had time to get to his feet before the rocket exploded, sending him flying backwards.

There was a loud thud as he was flung back against a wall.  He hit the ground with a sharp crack, dazed and hurting.  Blood dripped down the back of his head, and burns decorated his legs.

His leg.  There was a bone sticking out of his thigh.  His right one.  That shouldn’t be there, not outside.  In.  It should be in.  In the in.

“ _Scout, move._ ”

There was a faint buzzing in his ear.  He could have sworn they were words.  Yelling.  Was it yelling?  He was in too much pain to focus on anything except the burning agony searing through his leg.  The noises around him were muffled, as if he was underwater, drowning too far into his pain to understand anything else.

“ _Move, Schnell!”_

Something fell on his head.  A part of a brick, it looked like.  Where had that come from?  Up?

“ _Protect little man until he is back in head.”_

Oh, there was a lot of stuff up there above him.  It was all kinda hanging off too.

“ _Son, you’ve got to move.”_

Kinda looked like it was going to fall.  That wouldn’t be good.  Especially because he was underneath it.

“ _Bushman, take out their Snipers before they take off his head.”_

There was a quiet boom somewhere above him.  

Fireworks?

“‘ _M already on it.”_

As the buzzing in his head subsided, the buzzing in his ear grew louder.  It also grew clearer.  Apparently the buzzing was words.

“ _Scout, can you hear me, lad?  You need to move behind cover.  Medic’s com_ -”

There was a loud explosion and a loud yell.  Scout heard both of them.  Another brick fell down next to him as the ground slowly stopped shaking.

“ _Medic’ll be there soon, after he patches up Soldier’s…Soldier.  Just all of Soldier._ ” Demo said.  It was Demo talking.  Scout recognized his accent, and finally could comprehend what the other man was saying as he finished up with,  “ _Get somewhere safe.  Do you understand?_ ”

“I-Yeah.” Scout said.  Talking was weird.  His head still felt all floaty.  Floaty and heavy all at the same time.  He didn’t want to talk a lot for once in his life.

As Scout tried to stand, a stupid move on his stupid broken leg, there was a ping above him.  A ping wasn’t too bad a noise to hear, except that, in this case, it was followed by a loud groan of shifting substances.  A Sniperbot’s shot had upset the precariously balanced debris above.  

Scout barely had time to look up and see the pile plummet towards him before his world turned dark.

It was hard to open up his eyes.  Dust and dirt entered his nose and mouth, blinding him if he so much as dared to try to take a peek.

He was pinned.  Pinned just like he had been under his brothers all those years ago.  Just like he had been at the bottom of the dog pile, wishing he could just breathe.  Keeping his breathing slow, as slow as he could anyway, he tried to calm himself down in anyway that he could.  He needed a hug.

He also needed to unbury himself.  It took some effort to push the debris off of his torso, but no amount of effort he put in would get that large chunk of building off his legs.  He tried to shove the concrete off, but it wouldn’t budge.  He had no chance of dodging anything sent his way.  None.

The grinding gears of an approaching Soldierbot sounded like a funeral song, and when the bot stopped to aim a rocket his way, Scout knew it was done.  He was done.  He had lost his gun, and he was trapped.  There was nothing he could do.

It felt like he was watching the even in slow motion.  The pull of the robot’s finger, the rocket flying towards him, everything else happening.  It was like a movie.

He closed his eyes, turning away and saying his prayers and apologizing to the big guy upstairs for a lot of his own crap.  While was was busying trying to make up a decent Lord’s Prayer substitute, he was unaware of footsteps racing his way.

There was slight breeze as someone moved past him, and then a huge blast of air followed by an explosion.

Scout opened his eyes to see Pyro panting in front of him, surveying the destroyed bot, taken out by its own airblasted rocket.  They turned back to look at him through their tinted lenses, and they dropped their flamethrower as they threw themselves against the debris pinning him down.

“Pyro, that ain’t gonna work.  It’s too heavy.” He said, quickly, trying to keep an eye out for any other threats while Pyro was distracted, “I tried.”

“You’re the fast one.  But fast doesn’t help when you’re stuck under stuff,” Pyro grunted, dipping their chin low so they weren’t muffled by the mask, “But I’m the stronger one.  And I’m gonna help you.”

Heaving, they managed to roll the rubble off of Scout’s even more cracked legs.  Scout, relieved to be free, dragged himself backwards with his arms.  That was all he could do right now.  His legs were kaput.

“Pyro-” Scout started to say, dazedly reaching for his team mates, but they were already by his side, starting to pick his broken body up.  As they slipped an arm under his back, the whir of a minigun caught their attention.  A Heavybot was aimed their way, maneuvering himself into a position to lock onto its targets.

Pyro tensed, glancing between Scout and at the too-close-for-comfort bot.  If they tried to move indoors, they’d be ripped to shreds.  If they stayed, they’d be ripped to shreds.  The only choice was to try to take it out, Pyro decided, that was the only chance that had.

Dropping Scout back down, Pyro lunged for their flamethrowers, scooping it up and racing towards the bot.  They ran in an arch around it, forcing the bot to change angle if they wanted to try to attack the biggest threat it had.

Scout watched as Pyro raced towards the bot.  What the hell were they doing?

“Pyro, _stop_!” He called out, scared for both his team mate and himself.  If Pyro failed, then they were both dead.

Pyro glanced back at Scout, taking another few quick steps towards the bot before they halted dead in their tracks.

Stop meant stop.  

Scout had told them that stop meant stop.

With its target no longer moving, the bot had no problem taking down Pyro.  The bullets ripped through them, tearing through suit and skin, knocking them down.  The pool of red around them grew larger as the blood spilled.

The bot then locked onto Scout, but before it could take the boy down, it became engulfed in flames.  As the fire touched the oil in its system, the bot went up in a ball of flames, destroying its joints before melting its form into an unusable mess.

Pyro panted, laying on their side, and held their flaregun up defensively.  One they were sure that the bot was down, or perhaps their strength just ran out, their arm fell to the ground.  And then they just layed there.  Unmoving.  Still.

Scout only looked at them for a moment before he started to crawl over.  Bloody legs dragged behind him pulled himself over, one arm in front of the other.  Once he made it over to them, the slow crawl seemingly taking forever, he looked them over in a daze.

They had been ripped apart from the waist down.  Bullets had shredded their uniform and body easily, as if the latex and flesh had been made of paper instead.  Blood spilled, getting absorb by the dry ground as soon as it touched.

“Pyro-, Pyro-” He barely managed to choke the words out, his throat tight as he looked them over “Pyro, I’m sorry.  I’m so so sorry.”

They coughed, reaching towards their face, one hand gripped tightly on Scout’s slim bicep.  They slid their mask up, and Scout immediately closed his eyes, opting for that instead of look at their destroyed body.

“Scout, Scout, no, look at me,” Pyro said with a cough, “You can look.”

Unsure of what to expect, Scout slowly cracked a damp eye open.  It was their mouth and the bottom half of their nose.  It was the most that Scout had ever seen of Pyro’s face ever before.  

Why did it have to be like this?

“That-  That’s it.  There you go,” Pyro said with a grin, red spilling out of the corner of their mouth, “Like, ah, Like what you see?”

“Pyro-” Scout’s eyes widened in panic as Pyro’s grip on his arm tightened, “Just hang on, okay?  Doc was gonna be here soon.  Just a few more minutes, okay?”

“Ah, ah…I-” A bright smile bloomed on their face, “It’s so pretty.”

“Pyro, hey, whoa, buddy,” Scout forced his legs to support him better and picked up Pyro into his arms, their head lolled against him, “Pyro, just stay with me.”

“Do you see the colors, Scout?  I hear music.  No more robots.” Pyro said, “It’s so beautiful…”

“Pyro, please.  Please.” He begged, knowing what he wanted but not sure how to say it anymore, “Pyro, talk to me.  Just keep talking.”

“I just wanted to play with you again, Scout.  I just wanted to play some more,” Pyro said, “You said we were gonna.  I don’t think we will.”

“Pyro, no.  No no no.  We’re gonna play some more.  We will,” Scout said quickly, glancing up when he heard Medic yelling.  He sounded so far away.  Too far. “We’re gonna play again together.  We are.”

Pyro’s body tensed and spasmed in pain, their head pressing against Scout as their back arched.  They groan as they bruised his arm, searching for a way to try to stop the hurt.

But what they did next caught the boy completely off-guard.

They laughed.  It was a loud wild noise, and they brought their hand up to stroke at Scout’s face, leaving blood trailing down his cheek.

“Scout, Scout,” They panted, wheezing for breath as they started to fade, arm falling as a grin locked on to their face, “Scout…Scout, guess what?  Guess what, guess what, guess what?”

And, as their arm fell down to the ground and they went limp in his arms, the last spark of life leaving them, their last, laughing words would both forever haunt and taunt Scout, becoming burned into his memory and nightmares:

“ _Tag, you’re it!_ ”


End file.
